With international growth a bright spot amid stiff U.S. competition from rival Lyft, ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies reported first-quarter earnings and revenue that topped estimates. Uber stock popped as bookings came in above expectations.
Before the market open, Uber reported a loss of 8 cents per share on revenue of $8.8 billion. Sales climbed 29% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, analysts expected Uber to report a loss of 9 cents on revenue of $8.7 billion.
A year earlier, Uber reported a loss of $3.04 per share on revenue of $6.85 billion.
Uber reported a net gain of $320 million in the quarter related to a revaluation of the company's equity investments.
Gain In Key Earnings Metric
The ride-hailing and food delivery giant also reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or EBITDA, of $761 million. Meanwhile, Uber stock analysts expected the company to report EBITDA of $679 million.
"After a transitional year of growth and cost-cutting, we are seeing Uber finally hitting the inflection of growth, free cash flow and EBITDA levels the Street had only dreamed of a few years ago," Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said in a note to clients.
At Truist Securities, analyst Youssef Squali said Uber's advertising revenue is on track to hit $1 billion in 2024.
"After formally launching its advertising division in Q4 2022, Uber has grown its advertiser base over to over 345,000 businesses," Squali said in a report.
Analysts say Uber has been losing U.S. market share recently to Lyft, which has been cutting prices for its services.
But Uber stock jumped 11.6% to close at 36.52 on the stock market today, while Lyft stock rose fractionally to 10.64. The Uber rival reports earnings on Thursday.
Uber Stock Gaps Above 50-Day
Uber gapped above its 50-day line on Monday. It's working on a consolidation with a 37.68 buy point.
Further, Uber stock is on IBD Leaderboard as an earnings options play.
Gross bookings in the first quarter grew 19% to $31.4 billion versus estimates of $31.3 billion.
For the June quarter of 2023, Uber expects gross bookings of $33.5 billion at the midpoint of its outlook.
Follow Reinhardt Krause on Twitter @reinhardtk_tech for updates on 5G wireless, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.
